Florida, the birds, the warmth and the nature coast are completely cozy especially knowing that in the north there are below freezing temps and snow infecting the masses. The nature coast is the entire coast along the Gulf of Mexico on the west side of the state. In 2019 Maria and I decided to “snow bird” there. We camped in my parents’ driveway, or rather, next to it.
I landed a home health aide job that was only giving me about eight hours a week. Our savings, the miniscule amount we had saved for the first couple months, had dwindled, and I scrambled to find work somewhere else to make ends meet.
I landed a job in a warehouse in Tarpon Springs. The job was forty hours plus, and it was a day job, Monday through Friday. Other than my shoes being worn out and my body fucking hurting it was a job that paid and got us out of our financial conundrum. I excelled, as per usual. My main duty was to take papers and a pen and walk up and down labeled shelves and boxes to “pick” orders that were printed on the paper. I was fast, my stride faster, and I was in demand by the bosses.
I have always excelled at work, learning and evolving quickly no matter what the shit job. I learned everything in the warehouse that I could. The assignment was temporary for about three months that’s why it worked out, because we had to go back to Michigan (and little to our surprise a Pandemic was looming just a month or two away). We weren’t full time in the RV, just yet.
What I learned is there are many people running from the law in the happy “country” of Florida. When a “Floridian” labels people “northerners” they are mostly referring to those from the east coast. I befriended such a person, a loud mouth named Bob. He was from Jersey and New York City, claimed that he ran escorts for the mob, dropping them off through New York City and that he had several warrants out for his arrest.
I learned that criminals don’t care as he smoked vape pens with cannabis during our lunch. He rambled, or more less, tried to feed me bullshit after bullshit in every conversation. He had a story for everything. I think, that since he knew I was a writer it added fire to endless streaming mouth of tall tales. He started talking about his cousin from the Midwest, named Seth. He said that Seth wintered in Florida one year and then disappeared after a huge Shingles outbreak, which I conveniently never heard of before. Bob was the type of person that when he got your ear, he took it off your head and ran with it. The words started to entice, and before I knew it, I gave my other ear as he told me that Seth stayed in the same neighborhood that I had lived in and that some weirder shit happened there. What put cream cheese frosting on the cake? Bob asked me if I wanted to read some of it…how could I pass that up, reading about an outbreak that I’d never heard about, as we were about to live through a pandemic, it must be fiction???
Below is a travel video where I filmed the serial killer Aileen Wuornos' Florida hidey hole, check it out!
Finally, this BLOG has landed somewhere, it's about damn time, and you won't believe what I learned about Seth and the words handed to me on next Wednesday's post.
Thanks for reading...
Tim Eagle
Find out where RV travel, exploring, DIY and writing is prevalent on video at the Dark Nest Travels YouTube channel here: Dark Nest Travels.
Tim Eagle is an author of the novellas Stolen Seed and Krae, among other books. He lives full time, on the road, with his wife, Maria and their dog, Cocoa. He grew up in Michigan and is inspired by the dysfunction, insanity, and nepotism of rural America. His books are available on Amazon, godless and Kindle Unlimited. Thanks for reading, tune in next week for the next chapter...
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